1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a web page providing method for transmitting, to each of employees working for a user, a web page customized in accordance with actual work condition of the employee, a server machine for implementing such a web page providing method, a web page providing program for causing a computer to function as such a server machine, and a computer readable medium storing therein such a web page providing program.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Upon receipt of a URL, a user computer connected to the Internet and executing a WWW browser program accesses a web server indicated by the URL, receives an HTML file stored at a site indicated by the URL, and displays a web page with content according to a hypertext in the file. Such a web system allows a user operating the user computer to browse information published on the Internet by world-wide web servers.
A web server (web site) providing a web page (portal screen) appropriate to be initially accessed by a user computer just after it activating the WWW browser is normally termed a portal site. A portal screen transmitted from such a portal site to the user computer is typically designed so that it contains an item linked to another site or an item for operating a search engine for searching another web page. In some cases, a portal site displays information for users provided by its administrator on the portal screen.
In recent years, a service provider under a contract with a specified user (a government agency, a municipal organization, a company, or a personal employer) has offered them a service of providing, only to employees working for the user, a portal screen with contents intended for the employees via the Internet by the use of such a web system. Information provided on the portal screen for each of the employees under such a service includes data on the work of the employee and data on employee benefits, more specifically, data on a personnel notice about promotion or demotion, data for sales support such as clients' information, data on a company sport club, a company trip, workplace selling, and so on. This causes the necessity to partly or entirely limit the viewing of the contents depending on the assignment department and title of the employee who accesses a site showing the portal screen or on whether or not the access time falls within his/her working hours.
According to the conventional service of providing the portal screen to employees, however, each of the employees or a system administrator assigned by the user should periodically update control data including the title and working hours of each of the employees. If the employee in charge neglects to update the control data, the problem is encountered that data unnecessary for work operations are displayed on the portal screen intended for the employees on duty or that data for supervisory employees are displayed on the portal screen for subordinate employees.
Particularly, in case the user adopts, e.g., a flex-time or three-shift system as a working system for the employees instead of a fixed time working system, the working hours of the individual employees are frequently determined in properly.
The server providing such a portal screen can be accessed via a public switched line from the outside of the office. However, if an access to the contents on the portal screen is controlled based only on the control data including the title and working hours of each of the employees, it is impossible to determine whether the employee who has made the access is at a business trip destination on duty or at home on a leave.